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Pompeii’s Villa of Mysteries has recently reopened to the public after a two-year restoration. The Villa is famous for its burnt orange and red wall-paintings depicting an initiation into the cult of Dionysus, the God of wine.

Is the poet Dante turning in his grave as the Italian language declines? The CNN website has recently published an article on the decline of the Italian language. The author, Silvia Marchetti, freelance reporter and writer, pointed out that Italy is becoming illiterate. Marchetti said that many Italians are clueless on grammar and don't even know how to use verbs properly. So, the land where Latin originated and from which many other European languages descend is becoming ignorant when it come to using correct Italian.

The 25-year-old Rumanian construction worker Adrian Miholca died while working on the building site of the Salerno Reggio-Calabria motorway in the part denominated “Viadotto Italia”, the highest flyover in the peninsula and the second highest in Europe. After the accident, the A3 motorway, one of the never ending constructions renowned for 40 years of squandering, thefts, and big planning mistakes, has been closed in the segment between the toll booths Lagonegro nord and Sibari, causing deviations on state highways and country roads which now makes the journey to the south of Italy longer and more difficult.

Luca Ronconi, one of the most important theatrical innovators of the 20th century, died at the age of 81. Actor and director, Ronconi revolutionized contemporary theatre. One of the most illustrious figures of Italian culture, he also directed the “Teatro di Roma” from 1994 to 1998 and from 1999 the theatre “Il Piccolo di Milano”.

Some bars and pubs in Britain have been reported selling prosecco on tap. Now, a group of prosecco makers, with the support of the Italian government, threatens legal action and fines against British pubs for serving the fizzy wine from kegs.

Italian director Francesco Rosi, one of the last interpreters of the golden age of Italian cinema has died at the age of 92. His award winning films, picturing and investigating in depth on corruption and criminality in Italy, made him one of the most acclaimed and influential film-makers from the 1950s to the '90s. His works influenced directors such as Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Francis Ford Coppola.

At the latest United Nations Climate Conference, held in Lima this year, it was revealed that Italy is among the top 20 countries in the world when it comes to tackling climate change.
It emerged from the report on Climate Change Performance Index, which evaluates and compares the climate protection performance in the countries that are, together, responsible for more than 90 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions. The aim of the report is to enhance transparency in international climate politics.

Most of Rome’s inhabitants have always suspected that corruption was behind the malfunctioning of the Italian capital. Everyone visiting the city might have noticed that in the last years Rome has become dirtier, the traffic has increased without an adequate mobility plan for public transport, and there are unlicensed car-park attendants at every corner. These are just the most superficial aspects which strike the eye of tourists and inhabitants.
After the arrest of 37 people on the 2nd of December the presence of Mafia in Rome has been demonstrated. Rome has been called “Mafia capital”.

If you are looking for a property investment in Italy, you might want to consider Puglia and Marche. As a property destination Le Marche is about 35 percent less expensive than Tuscany. The property market is in crisis if we consider the internal demand because Italians prefer to buy abroad, but an increasing number of people from other counties wish to make a bargain in the “bel paese”.
Due to high prices Tuscany seems to have lost its appeal as from 2005 property purchases in the region dropped by 50%. Accounting now for just the 17% percent of the total market. Puglia and Marche now dominate the situation respectively 21% and 13% of real estate purchases.

The sentence of the Appeal court which cleared all the defendants in Stefano Cucchi’s case caused a strong reaction amongst the Italian population. An impressive protest named “1000 candles for Stefano Cucchi” took place in front of the Consiglio superior della magistratura (superior council of judges) a few days after the sentence.
The surveyor Stefano Cucchi had been arrested for drug dealing in Rome on the night of the 16th October 2009 and on the 22nd of October he died in custody at Rome's Pertini hospital. The autopsy revealed that the body was severely dehydrated and there was also internal organ damage and two broken vertebrae.